Feb 6, 2018 – Matt 26
This is my blood of
the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. Matt
26:28
It takes a sacrifice
to save people – your sacrifice has an impact in the eternities of others!
I confess, sometimes it feels like the bad choices of other
people get paid by me. There are many
cases of that around all of us, some deeply personal and others more common. Like the student who cheats on a test and
causes the whole class to suffer. Or how
about the baggage of past relationships being thrown in your face by the person
you married. Or sadly, how about those
who have been injured or killed when a drunk driver gets behind the wheel. It is completely unfair, and creates
depressing feelings, to the point it can become unbearable at times dealing
with the costs of others’ decisions.
You’ve been there too… and probably are feeling some of that
same pain by now just talking about it.
Maybe you are there right now.
And many times it makes you want to quit, just throw in the towel, give
up the relationships, quit the job, even dismiss our faith. Many have even abandoned God because of the
unfairness that has been thrown our way.
If you’re feeling that emotion right now, you can start to
get a taste of what Jesus was feeling at His Last Supper with the disciples
before going to the cross. But instead
of feeling it after the unfairness
happened, He was feeling it before
the persecution started. He knew that
every sin of the world was going to be thrown at Him… every cheating, every relational
baggage, every drunken accident, every abuse, every arrogant behavior,
everything! And instead of quitting or
throwing in the towel, Jesus took it on anyways, and offered the cup as a
symbolic reminder of the blood He would give to pay the debt.
Every time something unfair happens in our life, remember
how unfair it was to hang all our baggage on Jesus. Remember every sin or failure that Jesus took
on for you. Remember the pain He endured
when going to the cross for your shame and my shame. And remember that He was willing to take it
on even KNOWING it was your bad choices.
He didn’t do it because we were worthy of helping. Jesus did it because HE wanted us in eternity
with Him.
Then maybe when you face those unfair moments, instead of
crying foul or getting angry, you can get through that moment by knowing your
sacrifice is helping the potential eternity of another. The incident will still be unfair, but the
result will be different. You will be
pouring a drop of blood out your life to save someone – just as Jesus poured
out every drop to save you.
Forgiveness is always a sacrifice, but the sacrifice is much
smaller than the one paid for you.
Remember, every sacrifice has an impact on the eternity of someone.
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